airTEXT is a free service for the public providing air quality alerts by SMS text message, email and voicemail and 3-day forecasts of air quality, pollen, UV and
temperature across Greater London. airTEXT is an independent service, operated by Cambridge
Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) Ltd in partnership with a Consortium made up of representatives from all the member local authorities, the GLA, Public Health
England and the Environment Agency. The airTEXT Consortium is chaired by Paul Clift, Environmental Health Manager at Islington Borough Council.

airTEXT air quality maps at 7m resolution are created using CERC's world-leading urban air quality dispersion modelling system
ADMS-Urban.

Member local authorities pay a small annual subscription to be part of the service. The maintenance and development of the core airTEXT service is funded
jointly by CERC and research projects in which CERC is involved. Grants from national and local government have contributed to airTEXT service developments in
the past. airTEXT works in partnership with the GLA from time to time, for example on the Mayor of London's
public notifications during high pollution episodes.

The air quality forecasts are produced using CERC's air pollution forecasting system.
Information from weather forecasts, forecasts of pollution across Europe and very detailed data on about 30,000 pollution sources across London are fed into the
world-leading ADMS-Urban air quality model to produce
forecasts of air quality at a high degree of spatial resolution (7m). The forecasts are updated twice a day at about 7am and 7pm. We compare the forecasts with observed pollution levels to assess the accuracy of the forecasts. These performance statistics are available here.

The hourly concentrations of four pollutants are calculated: nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulates (PM10 and PM2.5) and ozone (O3).
From the hourly concentrations the daily air quality index (DAQI) of each pollutant
is derived. The overall air quality index is determined by the highest index for any of these pollutants.

airTEXT issues an alert for a local authority or region if at least 10% of the geographical area is predicted to reach MODERATE or above.

Forecast values of UV, grass pollen and temperature are supplied by MeteoGroup.

airTEXT Consortium
The airTEXT Consortium is a Consortium of London Boroughs, Slough Borough Council, Chelmsford City Council, Colchester Borough Council, Three Rivers District Council, the Greater London Authority, Environment Agency and Public Health England.

Cambridge: Additional forecasts are provided for Cambridge although the Council is not a member of the airTEXT consortium.

CERC:www.cerc.co.ukCERC develop and operate the airTEXT forecasting and alert system, which has operated across London since March 2007.

European Commission:
CERC has been a partner in a number of EU-funded projects which have contributed to the development of airTEXT, including PASODOBLE and the series of MACC projects. CERC is a member of the team delivering the EU's Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS). CERC is part of the sub-team facilitating user interaction.

DEFRA:www.defra.gov.ukDepartment for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has provided support through an air quality grant to support. Grants to Islington and Hackney in 2012 have funded the development the daily bulletins for each Borough and the apps to enable free dissemination.

Greater London Authority:www.london.gov.ukThe Greater London Authority are members of the airTEXT Consortium and have provided match funding for airTEXT activities in the JOAQUIN project looking at air quality and health www.joaquin.eu.

PREVAIR:www.prevair.orgairTEXT currently obtains regional (European scale) forecasts of air quality, used as input to the ADMS-Urban modelling from the Prev'Air consortium's model output.

Subscribing to receive these alerts you agree to the following terms and conditions on the service.

Your Privacy & Data Protection
Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Ltd (CERC) and the airTEXT partner local authorities and NHS agencies will never exchange your personal information with third parties. For data protection purposes CERC is the registered data controller number Z9799094. Your local authority or NHS agency may contact you to give you information on air pollution in your area and health advice. You may review your data at any time via the airtext.info website or by contacting Croydon Council via the details given on the Contact Us section. If you have agreed to be contacted for a follow-up survey, you may be contacted.

Limitations of the forecasting system and liability for your health
Air pollution forecasts are inherently uncertain and their accuracy is not guaranteed. In addition, air pollution is not the only cause of health problems. CERC and the airTEXT partner local authorities and agencies accept no liability for your health nor for any action you take based on the forecasts or alerts or the consequences of your actions. The air pollution forecasts and health advice provided on the airtext.info website is purely indicative.

Service provision
CERC will endeavor to provide air pollution forecasts and alerts twice daily but accepts no legal liability for failure to provide these forecasts and alerts nor the consequences of any actions you may take arising from such failure.

Copyright
The forecasts text summaries and forecast maps are the intellectual property of CERC and may not redistributed or published by any means without the prior written permission of CERC.

The airTEXT service is co-ordinated by the London borough of Islington. For all enquiries about the service, including subscribe and unsubscribe questions, please contact the airTEXT project co-ordinators on: